[MassHistPres] Examples of clusters of workmans cottages in Massachusetts

[Peter K Johnson]

Reporting in from Hanover here...PAL recently completed Phase II of a
three-phase update of Hanover's Historic Resources Survey.
I've pasted below the expert from PAL's final report that mentions a
cluster of workers' houses in an area of town that includes the site of a
now-defunct munitions manufacturing facility.  The houses certainly are not
as old as those you mention, but thought I'd pass along anyway.  (See last
sentence in the 2nd paragraph.) The Historic Commission to date knows very
little about these houses - or the structures PAL notes in the paragraphs
below.

Best regards,  Peter Johnson
Chair
Hanover Historical Commission

An area, the National Fireworks Company (NFC) Historic District (No MHC
Number) is recommended eligible for listing in the National Register of
Historic Places as a historic district. The potential historic district
would be eligible at the local level under Criterion A in the areas of
Industry, Community Planning and Development, and Social History and
Criterion C in the area of Architecture. The Fireworks Village has not been
inventoried as an area, with only select buildings inventoried
individually. The village is centered around the crossroads of King and
School streets, extending south along King Street to the Drinkwater River
and the former National Fireworks Company (NFC) on the east side of the
road, and extending east to the intersection of School and Circuit streets.
The area may extend along Circuit and Winter streets; however, additional
research and survey would be required to determine this.

The village was developed initially in the eighteenth and early nineteenth
century as an industrial center with the Drinkwater River dammed by the
early 1700s. Manufacturing occurred along King Street with development
concentrated in the general vicinity forming a village. In 1899, the NFC
acquired land on the east side of King Street at the Drinkwater River and
established a large and successful fireworks production facility. During
World War I, the NFC produced tracer bullets that were used by aviators to
make sure their bullets hit intended targets, and was one of the only
plants in the country to make the product. During World War II, the NFC
produced munitions for the war effort. Following World War II, the NFC
began to falter, and the company was sold off and subdivided. The complex
is partially extant, with some buildings in use for other purposes. Other
parts of the site were deemed to contain hazardous materials, and
mitigation efforts are underway to clean the site up. The town also
acquired a large portion of the land for conservation in the late twentieth
century (ca. 1970). The NFC constructed the Drinkwater Hall Fireman’s
Association, as well as at least 17 NFC built houses along School and
Winter streets for the NFC’s employees. Furthermore, commercial buildings
that supported the village were built in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century along King Street.

The Fireworks Village is a good example of a nineteenth- through early
twentieth-century town village that includes a mix of residential,
commercial, institutional, industrial, and mixed-use buildings. The area
contains properties on King, School, and Winter streets, Sunnyside Avenue,
and Industrial Way. The buildings date from primarily the nineteenth
century to the mid-twentieth century and include examples of styles popular
in that time period. The area is a dense village setting, with buildings
typically set close to the road on small lots. The buildings retain some of
their original exterior materials, with some minor modern replacement
materials and alterations. The district possesses integrity of location,
design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.
Furthermore, portions of the NFC’s manufacturing complex remain extant,
although no longer used for firework production. It is recommended that an
area form be created for the Fireworks Village to fully document the
historic buildings not individually inventoried in MACRIS. Additional
research is needed on the history of the area, to delineate the district
boundary, define the contributing and noncontributing status of resources,
determine the extent of integrity and exact period of significance, and
complete a National Register nomination.

On Mon, May 24, 2021 at 2:53 PM Anne Lusk <annelusk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
>    I'm working on a Study Report for a Local Historic District submission
> in Brookline that concerns a cluster of workman's cottages that were built,
> starting around 1820.  There are 11 cottages really close together on Hart
> Street and 5 cottages really close together on Franklin Court.
>      Are there any other clusters of workman's cottages in Massachusetts?
> I gather there are some cottages near the old glass factory in Sandwich.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarvesville_Historic_District   Could
> someone give me a street name for these cottages?  Those cottages would
> have been built by the glass company to house their workers.
>       The houses on Hart and Franklin were moved in 1870 to these streets
> to be owned by Irish Catholic workers or rented to them. Eventually, all
> the houses were owned.  Many single women owned the houses, widows remained
> in the cottages for a long time, and houses were passed down from family to
> family.
>      With so many wealthy mansions already being listed and the threat of
> smaller homes being demolished to build McMansions, saving the humble
> cottages and telling the stories about the owners is worth the effort.
> Thanks so much for your help,
> Anne Lusk, Ph.D. 617-879-4887
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